1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,887,106 discloses a connector with a housing for accommodating a terminal fitting connected with an end of a wire. A sealing member is mounted on the wire and is fit into an opening at the rear end of the housing. A rear holder is mounted on the housing from behind to press and retain the sealing member. The rear holder is formed with a wire insertion hole through which the wire is passed, and the wire is drawn out to the outside through the wire insertion hole. The rear holder also is formed with a resiliently deformable locking piece that is engageable with an engaging portion on the circumferential surface of the housing. The locking piece engages the engaging portion when the rear holder is mounted properly on the housing to retain the rear holder on the housing.
The above-described connector is connected with a mating connector to connect the terminal fitting with a mating terminal fitting. However, the wire drawn out of the housing can be shaken in this state and can cause the wire in the housing to shake within the range of a clearance between the wire and the wire insertion hole. As a result, the terminal fittings might slide in contact with each other, and connected positions of both terminal fittings can change to impair connection reliability.
The connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,887,106 has a terminal fitting connected with an end of a wire. The terminal fitting is inserted and held in a cavity of a housing, and a rubber plug is mounted on the end of the wire. A tubular mounting portion is formed at a rear part of the connector housing and has an open rear surface. The rubber plug is held in close contact with the inner circumferential surface of the mounting portion. A cap-shaped rear holder is mounted on the rear part of the housing for pressing the rubber plug from behind to retain the rubber plug. A back wall of the rear holder is formed with a wire insertion hole through which the wire is inserted. Further, the rear holder is formed with a resiliently deformable locking piece, and the rear holder is fixed to the connector housing by the mutual engagement of this locking piece with an interlocking portion projecting from the connector housing.
As noted above, the wire drawn out of the housing can be shaken transverse to the longitudinal direction and the shaking can cause the wire to press the inner surface of the wire insertion hole of the rear holder. These forces can disengage the interlocking portion and the locking piece and can detach the rear holder from the mounting portion.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to improve the overall operability of the connector, particularly by improving the connection reliability of a terminal fitting and/or by preventing a rear holder from being inadvertently detached from a mounting portion.